Governor Will Again Propose ‘Comprehensive Ethics Reforms’

cuomo
     New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo

Gov. Cuomo has announced that he plans push for ethics reforms again in the 2017 legislative session, saying that he plans to introduce a 10-point proposal “to advance strong ethics and good government reforms to rebuild the public’s trust and restore confidence in New York’s elected representatives.”  The proposals are expected to be included with the Executive budget, which is due to be submitted to the Legislature by January 17.

The Governor said that the reform package will include:

  • a constitutional amendment to limit lawmakers’ outside income and establish a full-time legislature;
  • a constitutional amendment imposing term limits for elected officials;
  • a require legislators to obtain an advisory opinion before earning outside income;
  • closing the “LLC Loophole;”
  • creating a system of public financing of political campaigns, and enacting a number of other campaign finance reforms;
  • requiring local elected officials to file financial disclosure statements;
  • expanding the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) to apply to the Legislature;
  • expanding the State Inspector General’s authority to SUNY and CUNY not-for-profits;
  • creating new Inspectors General for the Port Authority and the State Education Department; and
  • ensuring greater oversight of the state’s procurement process.

The Governor has proposed a number of these reforms before, without success.

Gov. Cuomo said:

“State government must do more to restore the public trust because as public servants we earn the trust of the people we serve. Unfortunately, in Albany there have been a series of breaches of that trust. We must take action to show the people of this state that we get it, and that when someone does something wrong, they are punished to the full extent of the law and we have a system that is going to catch them. We have been doing historic work at the state level – the government is doing more than ever before – but imagine what we could do if we had the complete confidence of the people. If we had that confidence, there is nothing we couldn’t do – and I am not going to stop until I get there.”

Read news coverage of the Governor’s announcement from Gotham Gazette, the Wall Street Journal, the Journal News and WXXI.